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Extraction of Titanium, Aluminum, and Rare Earth Values from Upgraded Bauxite Residue

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Abstract

The Bayer process for alumina production generates more than 160 million tons of bauxite residue annually. The current global stockpiles of bauxite residue have reached more than 4 billion tons with less than 2% annual recycling rate. Critical elements such as Sc and Y present an opportunity to explore bauxite residue as a secondary resource; however, low concentration affects the process economics. The following research focuses on the recovery of Ti, Al, and rare earth elements (Sc, Y, La, Ce) from upgraded bauxite residue obtained after Fe, Na, Ca, and Si separation. Recovery of major elements resulted in upgradation of Ti and RE values up to fourfold. Thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of the proposed recovery process are critically evaluated, and optimized conditions are reported to obtain high recovery of Ti, Al, and RE values. The major elements are recovered as high-purity (> 99.5%) TiO2 and Al2(SO4)2.14H2O, whereas Sc and Y are concentrated into a liquid solution for downstream recovery with solvent extraction.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Mr. Glenn Yee for the fellowship he instituted at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Thanks are due to the NSF Center for Resource Recovery & Recycling for their technical support through Global Minerals Recovery, LLC.

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  1. Material Science and Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA

    Himanshu Tanvar & Brajendra Mishra

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  1. Himanshu Tanvar
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  2. Brajendra Mishra
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Correspondence to Brajendra Mishra.

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The contributing editor for this article was Atsushi Shibayama.

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Tanvar, H., Mishra, B. Extraction of Titanium, Aluminum, and Rare Earth Values from Upgraded Bauxite Residue. J. Sustain. Metall. 9, 665–677 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-023-00678-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-023-00678-1

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